BloodHorse at the Breeders’ Cup: Saturday

All right, welcome back into our continuing series, Blood Horse

at the Breeders Cup. His name's Shawn.

I'm Louis. We're the duo you see every

Monday on Blood Horse Monday. Hopefully you're following along

there on YouTube or Spotify, wherever you're watching, find

that show as well. Give us a like or follow there

an exciting day here. As you can see behind us, we are

past the racing time here at Dalbar, but certainly a day that

we really enjoyed here. We get a couple of superstar

performances to close the card, but frankly, even in an upset

victory from Valentina at 20 to one in that juvenile Phillies

turf, frankly, potentially a launching pad for her after the

scratch of precise, we didn't quite know where that one was

going to go. And we all should have probably

known it was going to go that kind of way, yes.

Exactly. I mean, the scratch of precise

that came out this morning, I've caught us all by surprise and I

felt like it left the race completely wide open and we

could saw that result. She paid over $40 to win that

race. Valentina did.

And you know, she kind of, I feel like she came into the race

being one of those second tier European Phillies that we had

over here. She had run, she'd hit the board

in a couple of group races over the summer.

But then in her last race at the Currog, she just didn't, she

just didn't fire. It rained right before the race

that she didn't get the ground that she wanted in that race.

And then they just sat back and they waited with her for this

race. She has some American based

owners, Parkland Thoroughbreds. I was in the press conference

for that race afterwards. They were talking about how this

has always been the goal with her, how this has always in the

plan. They like buying horses, even

though they're American based, they like buying horses over

there in Europe and leaving them here or leaving them in Europe

to just kind of develop a little bit more.

Don't move that turf program. Yeah.

Yeah, get some experience against those top turf forces

over there and if they're not good enough to compete over

there, eventually bring them here once they've already

developed. You didn't move them around too

much when they were younger and so it worked to perfection here

and they were able to pull it out, pull out the the upset

victory of the day today in juvenile Phillies turf and a

Philly that's in an exciting future.

The way, I mean, the way they talked about that of bringing

her to the USI don't know if that means she's going to stay

here. She's going to be with an

American trainer now. I don't know if she's going to

go back to Donaco O'Brien overseas, but I mean, this has

to be, this was definitely the ground that she preferred today,

a core step she preferred today and she looked really good.

Winning check north of a half, $1,000,000 for the connections.

They're essentially able to do a lot of things with that kind of

cash, make decisions on moves and different things as well.

You know, we talk about turf racing in the Breeders Cup and

we always default to the EUR and the routes, but we give the

Americans a chance and it went exactly to plan like that today.

We get Cyfare in the opener in Race 6 today, goes ahead and

wins the Juvenile. Sprint by the turf By the way,

Medallion racing owns Cyfare. They also Co own Valentina.

So great day from Medallion. Incredible back-to-back for them

in the turf races here. Cyfare was the buzz horse this

week and the buzz horse came through.

Yes, the buzz horse did come through and she looked really

good doing it. You know, some of the races that

we had seen earlier in the day, some of the races we've seen

yesterday and then her race made me think, all right, maybe we're

going to have a little bit of a speed favoring track, right.

I ended up not being the case of what we saw later on in the two

in the turf races, but Cy fare, she set that perfect trip.

Schwarzenegger got the lead that we I feel like we were expecting

to. I thought he would, you know,

when they turned for home, I thought he was going to go on

with it. She just ran him down.

You know, what a what a nice Philly to be running against the

boys here in this spot and to be able to, you know, have that

that strong of a kick entering the stretch, being able to hold

off some of those late horses as well.

She looked really good out there.

I was pretty impressed with Aidan.

O'Brien came into the Breeders Cup tied with Dewayne Lucas and

Brussels almost got there, frankly, under under Sumion, who

came over. We had some questions.

He got left out of the gate too, didn't he?

Yes, he did. And so it's a really interesting

sort of ride there. But Sumion did a great job

making up ground in that race. Should be a harbinger for

tomorrow where they they're going to be super ready in that

one, but 10-1 in that one. Cypher, of course.

A a daughter. Excuse me of not this time.

Geez. I mean where we heard that name.

I know, talk about how big this is.

Believe it or not, I think that's his first Breeders' Cup

winner. That is, or not.

And so with all the success that he's had recently, to now throw

a Breeders' Cup winner in on top of that is, I mean, Sky's the

limit for him. If you tuned in to Blood Horse

Monday over the last few weeks, I mean, we've been singing his

praises nonstop with all the success that he's had.

Every Consignor has mentioned him.

Every single one. Every single yeah.

We've had all those consignors on for ahead of the Keeneland's

sale and they're all mentioning him.

So just, you know, all the milestones that he is hitting to

now have that Breeders' Cup under his belt, just such a big,

such a big. Deal for him spectacular super

super corridora comes through in the juvenile Phillies and this

is what daughter of gun runner and I think it's the it's the

John Sadler. Do we?

We forget about John Sadler, but when he gets great horses,

they're great. They just are.

And it's a real compliment to him as a trainer that he

maximizes high level talent. That doesn't always happen.

We see high level horses move barn to barn all the time.

Not in this case. This daughter of gone runner, of

course, bred by Woodford Thoroughbreds.

How about that? A spectacular job for them.

Cheers. To all the Breeders, no.

Doubt about it, of course. Absolutely.

But the West Point thoroughbred folks come through again with

another one here coming out of a maiden win.

And I mean, I wrote in a in another piece, man, maybe

they'll just get out front and say come get us.

Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what they did and

we talked about it on the show. If any, if any of you all

watched Friday morning, you would have kind of gotten tipped

off a little bit to this Philly here at those eight to one odds.

Yeah, we, I mentioned how Terry Finley walked past this

yesterday while we were recording that episode and was

singing her praises, Terry Finley of West Point.

And so they were really high on her.

And I had said, you know, when we were talking about the

juvenile Phillies, we were kind of lacking that star horse or

those couple of star horses in this field.

So why not go with the Philly who had just broken her maiden,

who looked like she was improving, who was taking those

steps forward? That's exactly what happened

here. Explorer gave her a good run

down the stretch. I thought she was getting at the

end, but I mean, super Corridor, even though she was up front on

her own, they went at a decent pace there.

She didn't just walk the dog up there on the lead.

So really impressive performance from her.

I would like to see what Explorer can also do building

off of this race going forward. And so I think both of these

Phillies have a lot of upside as we're looking to the future.

Maybe that's an indication as we look toward the Kentucky Oaks

next year that the West Coast is going to be pretty strong.

Because now I will say Percy's bar at one point, I remember on

the far turn I was watching her. It looked like she was

struggling and I thought she had no shot.

And then when I looked at the I stopped paying attention to

where she was. And then when I looked at the

toe board, I saw she finished third.

Yep. So, you know, she, she obviously

was able to then come, come with another run.

She was not in the same position.

She was in the Alcibiades up on the lead.

She was back taking dirt and she so I still have some hope for

her in the future. I was fairly disappointed with

Tommy Joe in this race. Personally I thought she was

making a good run around the far turn, just flattened out down

the lane. I'm wondering maybe the distance

is getting a little too much? She might be a 6-7 kind of kind

of horse, right? And and for sure the starlet

stands out. Now all of a sudden end of the

year here in Southern California, might we see a match

up of many of these horses? About half the field was from

Southern California, right? And so I do wonder if we won't

see some of them, as you mentioned the the Oaks trail, as

we get to those those later races in this trail, maybe some

of these horses need time off after this, I don't know.

But boy, a lot of excitement here in Southern California

around those Phillies. Definitely.

And my question for you now as we look toward the Eclipse

awards, is it a done deal, Super Corridor just winning the

Juvenile Phillies turf off her maiden or Juvenile Phillies off

of her maiden win? Is that a done deal that she's

the Eclipse champion? Or do you think Explorer already

having the graded win, running a strong second getting to her at

the end? Do you think she could maybe

take this award? Why can't Syfair win this?

Do we just hate sprinters that much?

Yeah. OK, just checking.

We don't, but a lot of voters do, yeah.

I don't, I don't know what I'm doing here, but that was that

horse came in that yes, Buzz. But I mean I don't think, I

don't think that horse was heralded enough.

I'm not sure, but explore as far as 2 year old boy, I had not

given thought to that. And that's a really interesting

question at this point. Probably, Yeah, what a what a

what a world we live in, folks. But yeah, they start running in

the fall. That's that's essentially where

we end up. But on the next race, of course,

the scratch of precise, as you mentioned, or as I mentioned,

excuse me, really blew up this race with Valentino waiting at

20 to 1 here. Ocean Murphy gets the the just

the absolute ride of the day, almost certainly getting back up

the rail, getting his horse to rally there.

And then we get to the late double and we see it chalk out,

but we see two really impressive performances.

We see Ted and Offi do what he has done over and over, get in

that perfect stalking position, totally comfortable with Johnny

B. And then when it's time to go,

he goes. And and I was watching the

replay back in the press box with a couple of people and I

said I think he re rallied at the end because there was some,

you know, a little bit of concern.

Maybe that's as far as he wants to go right now.

He only wants to go the mile on a 16th.

Then we watched it and he did re rally at the very end.

It was only for the last four or five strides, but you saw him

pull, pull away again from that field.

Obviously a massive effort for Mr. AP in this spot, 30 to 1:00

in the morning line. But Ted Noffe did nothing to

cool our expectations for him going to this round.

Yeah. Well, and we, when we spoke with

Carlos Morales on the Friday episode here, he was mentioning

the mindset of Ted Noffe. And I've ended up hearing that a

lot today, actually, a lot of people talking about that as

well. And so I'm wondering maybe he's

at the point he's just figured it out.

He knows what he needs to do to win.

And that's what we saw out there today.

He took the lead, just waited for the competition to come to

him and they didn't get close enough to really threaten him at

that point. And you?

Hear stories from jockeys, too. Oh, he heard them coming, Yeah.

And then he started going again. It felt like that with Gaddafi

today. Yeah, and like, you know, they

turned for home and at one point it looked like Brant was going

to give him a challenge at the top of the stretch.

But as I was watching it live, I just, I never felt like he was

really in danger. Yep.

Now at the end, I will say the end did kind of concern me was

interesting. Mr. AP coming back at him.

I think, I think he had handled Brant at that point.

But Mr. AP coming back at him on the outside.

I, I was, I don't want to say I wasn't impressed with his win

because he did exactly what he needed to do.

He was shipping all the way across the country to run in

this race. He checked so many boxes for a

young horse in this race. However, if I have a nice 2 year

old right now, I'm not that scared as we move toward into

the spring at this point. We'll see what happens as he

keeps developing. But what I would have seen

today, I still think I got AI got a pretty good shot at these

spring races for sure. Yeah, it's interesting in that

spot, but yeah, I just an absolute another masterpiece for

Johnny V, frankly, in that race as well.

I don't want to. I also don't want to take

anything away from Ted Nafi's win today.

I do want to say what a miraculous year he has put

together. Oh, absolutely his.

Sometimes a 2 year old vote is very easy.

He's made it destroyed. This is.

Going to be unanimous I would say.

I would hope so. Yeah, three grade ones.

I would hope so. Winning the Hopeful, Winning the

Hopeful, Winning the Breeders Futurity, Winning the at 3:00.

Different tracks 3 different. Tracks three different areas of

the country. He's gone everywhere.

He's danced every dance you can as a 2 year old.

He has hit what I would consider.

I mean, you could swap out the champagne for the Breeders

Futurity, but I would say I would consider maybe the three

biggest 2 year old races, right, the hopeful.

And then you know, if you're not, if you're looking at the

two turn option, you'd go to the Breeders futurity.

If not, I would throw the champagne in there.

But I mean, he won everything they asked him to do.

He looked good doing it. And so Ted Nafi, he definitely

should be the Derby favorite at this point.

Not possible to run the breed history charity and the

champagne the same day. So that's a really tough, I

mean. To pick off.

He would have really been a great horse if he could have

done that. I mean, fly him up there.

Yeah, if you're gonna hop. On this.

I'm sure they could have gotten a private jet for him, but they

should have put the champagne as race one at 10 in the morning,

thrown him on the plane, get him out there to Keeneland.

Why not? He would have won both.

I don't have any doubt in that. And then all of us got to see

history today. Yes, we did.

It's a personal history for us as we got to sit down with Wayne

Lucas in the spring right before the Preakness.

We had a great time with him and frankly, we didn't know, but it

was the last time we were going to get to sit down with him.

When we came into the weekend, one of the storylines was that

Aiden O'Brien and him were tied for most Breeders' Cup wins of

all time. And Aiden got really close with

Brussels. And the Sprint for sure was

almost right there scratched. And we're starting to wonder,

Boy, oh boy, it might not be his day.

And the gestat made sure it was his day.

It was easily the best horse in that field coming out of those 3

second place finishes in a row. And guess who was aboard?

Sumi Y'all going into tomorrow. Should be an interesting day on

Saturday, but let's talk about Gestat and where he fits with

this group. Well, I just want to mention

what one of the things we talked about yesterday on the show was

we were concerned about that 14. Potential issue we.

Were potentially concerned about that.

We were not as concerned about precise at the time being in the

13. I know you had a strong opinion

on that. What did you see from his race

out there coming out of the 14? I think that's a really what was

interesting is he didn't break what's horses on the outside.

Sometimes they break more to the outside and that's precisely

what he did today. But he only did it for two

steps, caught himself recalibrated and moved in.

He started to move in with the group, got pulled back out by

Simeon, and then when they decided they were going to go

into the three path, he pulled right back in, no problem.

And what he did reminded me actually of sovereignty in the

Belmont. He was further back.

He was probably 9th or 10th, moved himself into third or

fourth position, had the three path the whole way.

And then when they got to the top of the stretch, it was time

to go. And that's exactly what he did.

He was a freight train at that point, A terrific ride, but

frankly a horse that I think I think they're going to try more

left-handed races with him because I think he liked that

second turn and he launched out of it, frankly.

And if you notice he bumped a little bit.

He moved in a path in the in the stretch, but I think that was

because he had slung shot. It was a slingshot effect

essentially off of that turn. I wonder if he's not a a Baby

Rebels romance, essentially where they figure out he wants

the flat turns. Yeah, and that's what he wants

to do. I think there's a chance that we

see that from him in the future. Yeah, we definitely could.

And he might, he might be one of those candidates.

I mean, I'm sure they got they're gonna have to think

about the Guineas and they have some.

No doubt about it. I'm.

Sure, they're gonna have to think about that with him, but

you know, say, say, maybe they decide not to go that path with

him. Obviously this was just a mile,

but if he can stretch out, if he can go more distance, maybe we

see him back here in the States for the Belmont Derby, the

Saratoga Derby. Those races are not prone or

not. It's not a strange to see

European horses come over for those races.

And with the way that he performed on these turns here

today, I mean, it was so impressive.

I also want to give a big shout out to stark contrast because I

don't think he, I don't think he got enough credit from at least

what I could hear in the race call as far as you know him,

like how how much of a fight he was putting toward that.

It sounded like it was a done deal when you were kind of

listening to it. I mean, he, he raced him all the

way to the wire. I know you, you were on board

with him very much. I know I had gotten, I'd talked

to Mark Witkowski, the exercise rider who also writes

journalism. Michael McCarthy Barn.

Yep, Yep. At the Michael McCarthy Barn.

I was talking with him yesterday morning and he was so confident

in this horse coming into the race today and he proved it.

He got beat by a phenomenal horse, but I think he really

separated himself from the rest. Not not just the American

horses, the rest of the European horses that were in this race.

There were an Eclipse Award for Southern California horses.

He would win it for turf, yes. Like that's what for two year

old turf he would be it for sure.

He ran a phenomenal race. He really is, you know, his

last, his two races around 22 turns have been really good

going into this, right? And so I think a.

Very tactical horse, he can develop into something really

special, this stateside especially.

He he could and especially you look at McCarthy, he's got a

barn in Kentucky, a Churchill Downs when you're looking at.

That's an American turf, yeah. When you're looking at the

American turf, when you're looking at the Transylvania

Keeneland, before that, when you're looking at those races, I

think this could be a horse that he's gonna, he's gonna shift

east and he's going to potentially run the table some.

Bread for the Aimermans reminder a couple years ago we saw

endlessly with the Jeff and. That was a horse that Mark

compared him to. Mark wrote him as well, and so

he compared him to endlessly at this point.

So the Carbaggio, by the way, and so that's a.

That is not a that is Caravaggio is not a sire that we've heard a

ton around the Breeders Cup, but a great, great spot for the for

the Ambermans Hero landing. It's the second spot behind

Geshdad for sure. Yeah, you can't be, you can't be

ashamed of that performance at all.

I think this source has a really bright future.

All right, well, let's get into our previews for Saturday.

Yes. Who's kicking us off, Sean?

We are going to start off with Byron King.

Our our news editor here at Blood Horse.

He runs the Derby dozen. He had sovereignty on top the

entire year from the very first one he did in January all the

way through the Derby. So we're going to hear his

opinion to kick off the Philly and Mare Sprint and then we're

going to run just like we did yesterday.

We're going to run through each of these races on Breeders' Cup

Saturday. Great news.

You'll hear from Byron, you'll hear from our guy Frank Gangs,

and we imported him from New York.

His name is Bobby Hill. You'll hear from him as well.

Little insight, frankly, from him on the New York shippers for

the Classic. But of course, we'll talk turf

with him as well. So here are our previews of

every race on the Breeders Cup card for Saturday here at Del

Mar, right? The first race on the Breeders

Cup card on Saturday will be the Breeders Cup Philly and Mayor

Sprint going 7 furlongs on the dirt course here at Delmar.

Byron King for Blood Horse and bloodhorse.com of course with us

here to preview this one. Interesting field.

Lots of accomplished runners in this.

It feels like this race every year brings that kind of field.

It does. I mean, it draws horses from all

over, usually have the ballerina winner from Saratoga, usually

have the Princess Rooney winner and we have that again this year

plus a ton of California horses and Sweet Azteca is the

favorite, a california-based horse.

So it's a, it's a competitive field, I think.

Sweet Azteca, of course, beating Copian this year and she'll be

running against the boys later on in the car, which is always

an interesting decision here. I don't want to lead you

anywhere too too, you know, too fervent, but Hope Road you

mentioned comes in a year 4 to 1's a nice price on her and I

think she's got a real shot here as well.

Yeah, she ran second in the big Churchill Downs race the on the

Derby day and then went on later in the year to win the

Ballerina. She's a very fast horse.

She kind of had one little disappointing race at Churchill

later in the meet, but they were kind of returning her on shorter

rest. And I think she does better with

more rest between races. And she has that after the

ballerina. Bob Baffert trains Hope Road and

she's very fast. And but I think this is a highly

competitive race. I, I think this is a race that

people, if you're doing, you know, pick threes, pick fours,

etcetera, I think you want to go several horses deep.

Hope Road, second in that Derby City just after the that's.

The name of the race. No problem at all.

Always forget the. Sponsor names through the years

it always has changed so. You're correct and my chance in

that one. Who will try her best against

the boys you mentioned. Sweet Azteca is a local horse

here, ran a couple of really nice races in the fall.

What do you make of her? Should she be the favorite here?

I. Don't really think she should

be, but I mean she's certainly got solid form.

I'm a little bit questionable about her.

I just don't know. I mean, you mentioned some of

her wins and whatnot, but I just like others.

I'll just mention more who. Else do you like in this film?

I mean, Tamara is a really exciting horse.

She's a horse that Spencer Farm has and she was the hot stuff as

a juvenile and she had some health issues and didn't really

kind of put it together. Took some time off, has come

back looking sharp. Spencer Farm, you mentioned

Copian earlier. They originally had two pointed

for here and they decided to run Copian in the Sprint against the

boys. So you would only do that if you

really felt good about your prospects with the one you're

going to leave in, right? So I think that speaks to her

potential in here. She walked right by here at the

paddock in Del Mar. Of course, she walked right past

here and I went good as gracious.

Yeah, she's got the look of it for sure.

Yeah, and she's named after B Wayne Hughes's daughter, Tamara.

So a major person there. It's been through a farm.

And when they name a horse after one of their people, like Ted

and Offy or Ned Toffy or, you know, and all that.

So they tend to be quite good. Yeah, there you go.

Are you responsible for Ned Toffy's name?

I am not. OK, All right, I'm not.

We're going to find the person. Blood Horse.

We're going to do a little investigative journalism.

All right, well, we're going to throw Next up to race 5, the

Breeders Cup Turf Sprint with our guy Sean Collins, of course,

my Co host on Blood Horse Monday.

We'll do that next. All right, Blood Horse at the

Breeders Cup continue. Sean Collins, Lugerbo hanging

out with you, your usual crew for Blood Horse Monday.

Make sure you check us out on that program as well.

Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint will be race 5 on Saturday, of

course. 5 furlongs, a quick, quick run on the turf here at

Delmar. An interesting field in here we

see the old 7 year old knocker and Notorious on the inside, for

instance. I love these turf races because

we do get to see those older horses.

Yeah, we do get to see. Them we have quite a few older

geldings in here. You think about Kadem, the 9

year old, I'm coming, coming in from Europe, but he's been

racing here in the US. It's just two starts to go at

Kentucky Downs and then also the Wayne and the Woodford sticks at

Keeneland last time out. So we know that he's used to

racing over here. But this is a race that I

mentioned on our show on Thursday that we did.

This is actually one of the races I'm most looking forward

to this weekend, which is weird for me.

I'm not usually a, you know, a route guy.

Yeah, I'm a route guy. I'm also a dirt route guy.

I love dirt racing. Obviously if anybody watches

Blood Horse Monday knows how much I love the Kentucky.

Thank you for mentioning the Kentucky Derby during the I

have. To work it inside.

My gosh, that's amazing. But but you know, it's a rarity

for me to be this excited about the turf Sprint.

But I think that's just as good a field that we have this year.

There's a lot of interesting storylines in here.

I think it really sets up to be can the pace hold on or will the

closers take over? Because we have several really

fast turf sprinters that even if other horses are going with

them, as long as they can maintain that speed, the whole 5

furlongs closers aren't going to have a shot.

But if they do all go at each other in this spot and they

they're going to knock each other out, we're going to see

the closers. We saw something weird happened

last year of Cogburn, the way he started and then he had to rush

up and he just completely burned out and closers came in, almost

like he stopped running. Yeah, now the difference I.

Think this year is there's multiple of those Cogburn, not

necessarily of his speed, but they're going to be up there on

the pace. So I think that really sets up

for an interesting. Yeah, it should be.

Really, Really. Fascinating.

Who do you like in here? You know, looking.

At this field, one of the pacesetters that I actually

really like is she's so spicy. I know she's a three-year old

Philly taking on older horses, but I got to spend some time

with her around the barns in the last couple weeks out in

Kentucky here at Del Mar. I know I rat Ortiz, her junior,

her rider, he's he really thinks that she is just going to be

fast enough to where the age, the the the you know, the the

sex difference, all that. It's not going to matter for

her. She they think that going 5

furlong she's going to be quick enough to be established.

And I think if she's in the lead leading position, they're not

going to be able to get to her now.

I don't know if she will be in that leading position.

We're going to obviously see some speed from AG bullet, Bear

River, Kentucky Downs team. We saw all pretty much all the

Sprint basically running Ellis. As well.

So he's not a flat as well. Yeah, and I know, I know.

Keith Desormo, when I talked to him a couple days ago on Bear

River, they they felt confident that he could sit off the pace.

So I think he might be one that when all these horses go, he

might be the one that maybe backs off and tries to come off

the pace. But you also look at a horse

like Bring the Band Home, who, you know, back in, back in the

early summer at Saratoga, he ran 5 1/2 furlongs in under a

minute. And so he's got speed.

He got had an issue at the start last time that I don't think

gave him his best opportunity to run his best race, but he has

the speed to be up there and part of it.

Maybe he could take him the whole way.

I mean, we've only seen, we all know Cogburn set the world

record last year when he ran the five and a half under a minute.

Now that's been broken by Doncho.

And then Bring the Band Home was right behind that with a close

time as well. So we've only seen it three

times where a horse has done that in under a minute.

So you know that that horse has speed as well.

And so I from the front runners perspective, I know they're

really high on. She's so spicy.

Obviously there's a lot of questions, but I'm kind of

leaning towards her. I'm going to shoot.

Down the field with Reef Runner in this one, the disqualified

winner of the Green Flash Handicap.

Yes, right here at Del Mar at the same distance.

All of the things gets to break from the two.

I like that a lot. Frankly.

Tyler picks up them out here. Gaffalion should be an

interesting one. Did wind down the hill at the

Ned as well. I'd say they need a last out.

So this is just a winner in my mind.

Yeah, interesting course. I think you'll get 6-8 to 1,

something like that. Nice price in this kind of and

he seems to be 1 of. Those horses that's he's kind of

on the up and up right now. I totally.

Agree in good form, right? Now, yeah, he's in good form

right now. This is a course that we know he

can run well over, and so you can definitely have some

confidence in him. Motorius also, you know, he's

the one that won via disqualification, right?

That disqualification came from, you know, the start of the race

where Motorius got knocked even further back than he should have

been probably. And then he almost caught him on

the wire. So you know that he was still on

top of his game in that race. But Motorius has had so much

success here at Delmar. This is his third run in the

Turf Sprint. I think it would just be a feel

good story to see the seven-year old gelding, his third try in

the Turf Sprint, end up getting the win.

Especially because, I mean, just looking at his age, even if he

races for another year or two, this is his last opportunity to

win here at home and I know he likes running here.

And so I reminiscent, frankly, of Whitmore in 2020.

When the Sprint is an older horse as well.

Yeah, at his home in Keeneland. Out there in Kentucky.

So it would be, I think it would be a feel good story.

He drew the rail again. We saw last year that wasn't a

problem. He was still able to almost win

the race when he just got buried early beat by a neck by star

lust last year. And I also mentioned the other

old one earlier Kadem who, by the way, that's probably the

best blanket on the backstretch. Go look at my Twitter page BH

under score S Collins to see how they incorporated the British

flag in his blanket. I thought that was so cool.

But anyway, back to the racing. It's not the blanket racing.

It's horse racing. So but he.

He has such a good. Turn of foot of the Europeans.

I know the Europeans don't have a whole lot of success

historically in this race, especially if I for a long only

won twice and that'll be fair that those two wins have been

over the last couple years. But he we know that he's used to

American racing correct. So you could feel confident

about that had he only he's run twice at Kentucky downs.

Had those only been his two races, I don't know how good I

would feel. But seeing him win in this kind

of setup at Keeneland and the Woodford Stakes, I feel

confident that he's he's not going to follow the same trend

as these Europeans have over the years.

Well, let's keep. Sprinting.

Let's go to race. Race 6.

Excuse me, It is the Breeders Cup Sprint on the dirt here, of

course, going 6 furlongs for this one.

And we get Copian running in here.

We get the Philly on this side, the four year old, of course, an

interesting move by Richard Mandela.

It could be several things here, you know, same ownership as we,

you know, as as another runner in the Breeders Cup, you know,

the the Philly Mare Sprint side. But an interesting inclusion in

here when you see those kinds of moves.

Sean Collins, do you think, OK, what does Richard Mandela know

that I don't because I do. That's absolutely something that

happens for me. Yeah, it definitely does.

Obviously Richard Mandela is a top notch trainer, so if he's

confident enough to make this move, you got to pay attention

to that. Now my concern when it comes to

Copian is she's never run 6 furlongs, right?

Her shortest races have been 6 1/2 furlongs.

And so I don't know what to expect from her in this spot.

And I I look at this as more as we feel extra confident that

Tamara is going to run so well in the Breeders Cup filling Mare

Sprint. I don't know if they're as

confident is Copian in here just because they needed to put her

somewhere else and try to win 2 or are they that confident that

she's going to be able to handle it?

I'm a little concerned about the distance.

I'm a little concerned about the fact that she's on the inside

rail. And but if she wins, that would

be one of the best stories of the weekend.

Her coming into this race and beating the boys.

We, I feel like we always try to track which Phillies or Mares

might end up running against the boys at some point.

I think any of us had Topian running against the boys in a

Sprint race on our on our on our cars the start of the year.

So that would be a great story if she were to end up winning

this. But I think I'm going to have to

stick with the boys in this race, personally, yeah.

In Ben Tornado probable favorite here, I read Ortiz rides for

Jose D'Angelo comes out of the Louisville Thoroughbred Society

first race frankly, in almost a year.

Was off after the Breeders Cup Sprint here.

Barely missed under Louis size behind straight, no chaser last

year. Straight No Chaser, frankly, a

little bit of a surprise winner last year, but comes back here,

frankly, second off the bench here should be a real contender.

Yeah, he should, I feel like. Nobody's talking about Straight

No Chaser in in this race. Well, that part too.

But talk about Ben Tornado first.

You're not not wrong though. Yes.

Well, Ben, Ben. Tornado he so he I mean, you saw

his race at Churchill Downs. I know I was there for that.

He he looked so good winning that race and I know the horses

that he beat in that race are not the top notch sprinters in

the country. Kelly's not making a.

Brewers Cup, right? Yeah, they're not the top.

Top notch sprinters in the country, but what we have in

Kentucky we've we've seen that Group A lot and those are some

hard trying horses, some consistent horses that always

give their best runs. He handled them very easy.

That was not a fast. Track day either and he finished

in one O 8 and 2 yeah that was a fast fast spread out of that job

off the. Bench too, yeah.

Deangelo's been having them ready off the bench.

We shot saw it with She's So Spicy, winning the Music City

Stakes coming out of Royal Ascot.

We saw Howard Wolowitz in the in the race at Kentucky down as the

turf Sprint where he was second in that race after getting into

some traffic on the rail. He was coming in off a long

layoff and from the Saudi Cup races.

And so we know that he has them ready to fire off the bench.

And so you think now second time out, Ben Tornado would be even

further ahead and his progress ready for this race?

It's funny to see how much a year changes things.

He was 28 to one in this race last year.

Runs a strong second, comes back, one more race since then,

comes back. He's the morning line favorite

in this race. Great point.

And so, but he's been such a consistent horse.

I felt like he was underrated last year.

He was one of my picks in this race last year.

I think he's only gotten stronger this year.

Who would you rather have been? Tornado with three to one or

Straight No Chaser at 7:00 to 1:00 will make up fake outs.

Yeah, well, you know, it's. Interesting, because why are we

not talking about it? What's?

Going on, well, I think it's just, you know.

Because he came back and he lost off the bench, which, you know,

he, it's funny because you think back to February and he was like

the best horse that we had in the country when we went over to

Saudi, to Saudi Arabia and well, the Riyadh dirt spread.

Over there, the grade too, and his race in.

Dubai, he did not get the trip that he wants.

You know, he didn't like the kickback, so you kind of tossed

that one out. Now me personally, I was

expecting a little more from that return race.

We've seen him come back, especially that race at Santa

Anita. I think it was the exact same

race last year that he came back off of the long layoff, yes, and

he won that race. So you were kind of expecting

the same thing. I think the fact that he did not

win is why we're not talking about him, but we got the

defending champion in this race and it seems like he's flying

under the radar. I wouldn't count him out.

I know he's stuck wide here, but I wouldn't count him out.

Let me make this about. The Kentucky Derby.

Are you ready? Yes.

OK. In the same way that if.

A horse finishes up the track in the Kentucky Derby.

I don't write off the rest of their career right.

It's a very. Difficult.

Thing when horses come back from races either in UAE or Saudi, I

I don't expect them to win first back.

It's a difficult trip. Not all of them could do it.

And that's why a horse like Forever Young or Rebels Romance

is so different because they do globetrot.

They show up everywhere, you know, weighing off the plane

leaves to say this is what we're talking about with those horses.

I don't hold that against Straight No Chaser.

He's been home for a little bit longer now.

He's had his feet underneath him here in Southern California.

I think he'll run just fine. But we've also seen.

The flip side of that, we've also seen some of these horses

come back from over there. Never got the same.

You're right. So which one is it?

Is it just he needed the race or is it he's just not the same

horse that he was? We'll find out this weekend, but

I think that he is AI. You definitely can't toss him

out in this spot as well. Obviously, imagination, that's

one that I think because of him beating Straight No Chaser in

the last race is interesting. He was coming in off a long

layoff. He was successful.

Obviously they pointed him toward the Triple Crown races

last year, so we didn't really get to see him much at the

Sprint distance. But his last couple race, the

races that he's run at the Sprint distance have been pretty

good. And, you know, Baffert's always

good on this racetrack, so if he runs well, would not be shocked.

We'll. Talk to Frank Angst next about

the Distaff and get his thoughts on that.

This is Blood Horse at the Breeders Cup.

Thanks, Sean. All right, welcome in Paddock.

'S eye here at Del Mar. Blood horse at the Breeders Cup

with our editor here Frank Angst.

My name's Louie Robot. We're going to talk distaff here

Saturday. Card, of course.

Unfortunately, we're not going to get Thorpedo and she's on to

her next career. Follows what we had last the

year before of course with idiomatic in that, but boy,

still a lot of star power here. Frank.

Yeah. I mean, you really?

Unfortunately, you start with Torpedo Anna.

She just won this race last year, helped her to Horse of the

Year's achievement, but she is not back.

But plenty of talented Phillies and mayors are.

I really think you have to start with the local horse Seismic

Beauty, who has the speed to go to the lead.

There's probably no secret there.

That's what she's going to try to do and I think she'll

accomplish that early. I mean, she's put together 3

really nice races here and just really it's the horse you have

to start with. She's going to go to the lead

and everyone else is going to have to chase her.

Grade 1. Clement Hirsch.

Winner last out right here at Del Margo and a mile and a 16th

does have a win in the grade 2 Santa Margarita at the distance

as well at Santa Anita. Behind her will be a set of

three-year olds that are very interesting as well, including

nitrogen who will break from the pole or from the one hole here

in this race. Made the switch from turf to

dirt broker maiden and steaks company in January has only been

running in steaks company. You know, I've heard from people

maybe this is the end of a long campaign, that kind of thing.

But boy, she showed a lot of acumen on both surfaces.

I mean, I think. She's a really interesting horse

to watch early, withdrawing the rail like that.

She's she's very versatile, there's no doubt about that.

Has speed if she wants it, or could rate a little bit.

I'm guessing they'll read a little bit off the rail, but

they also could send it. It'll be really interesting to

see how they handle that. That post with a versatile filly

for sure. Yeah, she's been a really.

Really interesting one. Of course couldn't get by Jin

Jin last out of Keeneland. Does that concern you at all?

Second, itis a little bit. But, you know, there was some

things that didn't go her way in that race and maybe they just

kind of misjudged some racing strategy.

She certainly was competitive in a stretch.

So it's that's the main thing I look for.

I I think I don't think she it's the case of second itis we, we.

Look a lot at these kinds of fields and we see horses like

Cilla at longer odds prices. Certainly in a Breeders' Cup

setting. We get used to horses like this

of very, very good quality. Having these longer odds.

She feels like one that I think will almost automatically hit

the board wherever she shows up. You think she's got a shot to do

that here. Hitting the board is.

A good description. Cilla Cilla is a funny horse in

that she's the horse that we dream of She but she runs the

same race every time. I feel like it's going to take a

little bit better to win this one, and since I haven't seen a

little bit better from her and I'm not knocking her, she's

almost like a machine. She just comes out and runs a

race every time, wins plenty and places plenty, but I I have a

hard time seeing her getting over the top for the win.

It it, if I was to, you know, seismic Beauty, I think is to

pick the win here. If I was to try to beat her.

I think Clico is a really interesting 3 year old.

She's won four in a races in a row, just one, that Grade 1

cotillion, which was a nice launching pad last year for

Torpedo Anna, although Torpedo Anna had already accomplished

more than Clico had. But she's an improving horse.

She's going to run her bet. You know, barring some hard

bumping incident or something, if she gets racing luck

tomorrow, she will run her best race.

I don't know if it's good enough to beat Seismic Beauty, but

anytime a horse is about to run their best race, I think it's a

good pick. And then if you want a really

long shot, Dry Powder was right there with Cleco.

I mean that we're talking about horses probably going to be over

20 to 1 and she was right there and I and she's improving too.

Now what makes it challenging for her is she's a speed horse.

So I don't know if you want to take on Seismic Beauty early.

So that's up to those connections.

But she is an improving 3 year old.

So I, I always like improving 3 year olds this time of year.

They're they're good play in terms of handicapping because

people like once the improving 3 year old gets the big win, then

I'll bet them. But if you want to bet them

before they get the big one, that's when they're a bit of a

price. But like I said, I think seismic

beauty is the best, probably the most likely winner.

That said, Bob Bafford's never won this race, one of the few he

hasn't. So maybe, maybe, maybe you can

put that in your pocket and maybe that means something, but

I don't necessarily think it does.

I'm with you. It would be a big accomplishment

for Bob. I'm sure you want.

It's a race he wants to get. Oh, no doubt about it.

Yeah, I just remember Abel Tasman being right in the mix in

that Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs and just deciding she was

done racing and she just decided at that moment and that's been

Baffert's luck in this race that.

All right, so that's our discussion of the Distaff.

Up next is Bob E Hold. He's in from New York.

We'll get his thoughts on some of those runners in the Classic,

but certainly get his thoughts deeper on the turf.

All right, back in paddock side, blood horse at the Breeders Cup,

Lou Rebeau hanging out with Bob E halts, our New York guy on the

circuit here made the trip to Del Mar.

You told me we got to share this so people understand the behind

the scenes part of this job. 9:00 AM flight.

Oh, nice and easy at Louisville. You know what?

I would get out of bed 63645, take a shower, maybe make a cup

of Joe, you know, roll on with my day.

Roll through security. No problem.

Not so much in New York City. No, No.

I. Had to leave my house in

Connecticut 4:00 AM and I got there as they were boarding for

the 9:30 flight. I mean, and you know, I wasn't,

I mean, it's amazing traffic. You're sitting on the Van Wyck

Expressway in traffic at like 6:00 in the morning and it's

just unbelievable. And it didn't help that that

night you got the Dodgers and Blue Jays don't want to win a

baseball game. So I really didn't have much

sleep getting on that flight. So I'm kind of a little, I'm

finally kind of caught up now I'm ready to go.

They, you know, I jogged around the track and I'm I'm all set

now. Any.

Any. Any thought there that if the

Blue Jays win the World Series that the Yankees would have won

anyway? Just no This.

Wasn't, this wasn't my Yankees year.

I I never thought they'd go that far.

They had a lot of problems. You know, it's, it's, I don't

know, we, we, I think we might need a new manager.

I mean, you know, I don't know. I don't why you're letting Volpe

and Wells bat in the late in that 5th game that that or

fourth game. That was enough for me.

Bob will be. Doing blood horses in depth

coverage of the turf on Saturday.

Of course, we'll get the match up between Rebels Romance, the

two time defending champ coming back for a third attempt at this

thing. He's really developed into a

terrific flat 3 turn type of horse.

But man, we get Minnie Hawk, that three-year old coming in

out of her terrific performance in the Ark for about 50 yards

there. We all thought she was going to

win and then she didn't. I think there's some other

interesting runners in there as well.

But that match up between those two plants, why we come to the

Breeders Cup? No, it is.

I mean it's. A very exciting match up and I

throw Goliath in there too. I mean he's kind of a speedster

who could, you know, who could have a big impact on this type

of track. We'll see.

You know, I think it's a great match up.

I mean the American horses aren't really up to par this

year with them, so it's really those 3 Europeans I think that

are the ones that you look at. I do like rebels romance.

I mean, he's proven over the race track, which I think is a

big thing for a European, you know, those three turns, not

sure if everybody could handle it.

Mini Hawk, great, great race in the in the arc, but you kind of

wonder she's a three-year old Philly.

How much did it take out of her arc?

Arc horses generally don't do as well as you expect to do here.

So I've got to wonder how much that might have taken out of

her. The differences in the turns.

That's why rebels romance looks very appealing to me.

And you know, Goliath, I think is a horse you don't want to

sleep on. He beat the Rebels Romance last

year in a big race overseas, and one thing to keep in mind about

Minnie Hawk and the Ark, among the regulations in the Ark, you

can't have geldings, so horses like Rebels Romance and Goliath

could not run. There's a lot of good older

geldings there in Europe, and we'll see.

But as I say, I'm really I would go with Rebels Romance.

He looked. He looked very dominant.

When I saw him at Aqueduct, I was gonna say just.

Earlier he. Really just toyed with that.

Field it. Did have his.

Stablemate El Cordobes and the other some of the other American

horses who just were no competition for him.

So we know he's sharp, he's in good hands.

He's won here in America, he's won over this track.

I I think everything kind of points to him.

He he also. Beat another horse that won the

United Nations this year pretty easily, frankly, in that race as

well. So it's not as though he was

running against poor company and Aqueduct wins by three lengths

plus. No, he did.

And you know. As I say, I think Far Bridge was

in that race. There was others.

It wasn't a big field, but it was, you know, about the best

they could have busted at that time on that part of the

country. And, and I think he just toyed

with them. I, I didn't really, I think it

was a very, very easy win. I, I think, I don't think he

really had to be used that hard to win the race.

I think he still got a lot of his tank.

I, you got to give credit to Charlie Appleby.

This horse just keeps responding and winning going.

He travels all over the world. He's earned $14 million.

He's a rightful favorite and as I say, 3 year old Philly, very

talented. But like I say, I've seen enough

of these horses come from New York who for one reason or

another don't really have that same kick.

And so that's why I would kind of lean toward Rebels romance in

this ethical. Diamonds going to break from the

14 in that race. It's a hurdle horse that has

made his way to flat ground. This is such a Breeders' Cup

story, I can't even stand it, Bob.

But do you give that horse a chance at least get a good check

here? I don't know.

I. Mean that's a big that's a big

that's a big that's a big ass from that post against this

field. That's a really big ask.

I you know, as a better, I think you use him if you hit the all

button, But you know, I really think it's hard to get past

those those top three horses because, you know, you could

have different styles in the race.

I through the race that I don't think rebels romance will

probably go to the lead in this race.

I think he'll try to babysit off a bit with Goliath and then

we'll see. So in this race.

Then if you were putting your top three together, you'd have

Rebels romance on top. Would you have Goliath ahead of

Mini Hawk just because she's coming out of that?

Yeah, I think because of the. Speed here at Goliath at Delmar

I might put Goliath second and then mini Hawk third.

OK, I wanted to ask. You as well many of the best

shippers for the classic or coming from New York as well.

You are very tapped in to those connections there in New York.

I want to ask about fierceness a second.

We saw him in the Pacific class. I think we know more about him

than maybe we do about mine frame who frankly, if he puts it

together here would have a really great resume for horse of

the year between that Churchill Downs some runs otherwise at

Churchill as well in the their summer classic is he heads in

here the Jockey Club Gold Cup. We've all seen the photo 1000

times. If I ran on the wrong horse and

all those other things, he didn't keep up with the field

that day, sort of wandered around the track.

Any concern about him coming into this one out of that

performance, the time off, etcetera?

No, I'm not. Not.

In my mind, because if it was some other trainer, I might, you

have some serious concerns. Todd Pletcher is a master

getting horses ready off a layoff a lot.

You know, you'll see these these horses that haven't run in 10 or

11 months in Todd's barn, and they come back with huge

efforts. He's working out everyday

against some really good horses. I mean, you look at his bar and

he's got locked. He's got fierceness, he's got

antiquary. And I mean, these are good

horses that are training with each other.

I have no doubt that Todd will have him fit.

And as I say, I really kind of see the race as a coin flip

between the four older horses. And, you know, I think my frame,

if you're a better, my frame is going to be the probably the

biggest price of them. So he's attractive that way.

But I also think, you know, you look at the Stephen Foster, he

beat Sierra Leone. I think it could be a repeat of

that fierceness. You know, I think fierceness is

the question mark. I was talking with Johnny

Velazquez about him and he said he's a difficult horse to ride

because you can't you can't put him into the race before he

wants to. That's when he's had trouble

with the horse. It when he's, when he said he

was running smooth and comfortably, you know, in the

Pacific Classic, he did it on his own.

So that that's why he ran powerfully.

That that's the question. Will he will he run on his own?

Johnny said if I had, if I, as he put it, if I could stay out

of his mouth, he's OK. So there are some questions as

to whether you don't know what the pace exactly is going to be.

I'm not I'm not buying into the rabbit.

Everybody knows he's not going to be around.

And these these are top quality riders.

They're not going to be fooled by anything.

But you know, with fierceness, you always do have that question

is, is it going to be the really, really good fierceness?

And like I say, forever young, really good horse too.

But I do think, I think mine frame is going to put in a big

effort. Antiquarian from New York.

I mean, that was that was a good effort in the Whitney, but I

mean in the Jockey Club. But you know, he's been a

trifecta all year. I mean, he doesn't miss.

He, he has he's. Consistent.

But I think the question mark is we know there was a lot of

question, but there was a lot of asterisk to come out of the

Jockey Club Gold Cup. I certainly think Sierra Leone

lost basically all chance in that race.

So I, I might put him ahead of that horse because of that.

And I'll tell you what, you could run a hell of a bang up

race in the classic and still finish 7th.

I mean, that's how good this field is.

I mean, you know, if you're picking like your top 3 or 4,

you know who who are you leaving out?

You're leaving out by ASA, maybe journalism, antiquarian, maybe

forever young, maybe my frame. You know, I, I think there's,

there's going to be some good horses that don't hit the board

and that that's what really makes it, I think, a really

great race even without sovereignty four ways A.

Top for you in that one coin flip, as you called it.

Does that mean, hey, we're waiting for the longest odds and

that's who we're betting on? Well, I'm pretty sure mine

frame. Will be the longest of those

prices I don't anticipate him going down with them.

I kind of put it as mine frame Sierra Leone fierceness and then

forever young. There you go.

I, I mean, I use as I'm old enough, willing enough to admit

it, that I was around in the 70s and the late 70s where when you

had very good older horses and very good 3 year olds running

the three-year old Affirm could not beat Seattle's older Seattle

Slew, 3 year old spectacular bid could not beat older Affirmed.

I think these are not these are not about those Hall of Fame

levels just yet. They are pretty good 3 year olds

and pretty good older horses. I think the same adage holes.

I get the edge to the older horses.

There you go. Is Bobby.

Halt look for his holiday album that'll drop soon ahead of

Christmas and Hanukkah, maybe even Kwanzaa.

You doing is it is it mostly Christmas ballots or what are we

doing this year? You know I'm trying I'm.

Trying to extend, I'm trying to get the.

I'm trying to be very inclusive with everybody.

I, I, I take requests, things like that.

But I do have the standard, you know, the, the standard holiday

tunes, you know, a kind of a kind of big like, you know, I, I

saw one of my big ones. I, I saw mommy kissing Santa

Claus, you know, and I've also done some of the chipmunk

covers. Well, Elvin Simon.

And of course, Bobby Hall. There you are.

We'll get back with. Up next.

We'll talk. We'll talk with Byron King.

About something that's next. I'm back with Byron King,

talking classic with him here on Saturday.

This is a race A9 on the card. We were waiting for this match

up. Of all of these horses, 10

entered nine grade one winners. And unfortunately, with a little

illness this week, it looks like he'll be just fine.

Of course. But sovereignty out of this one.

Does this dampen the race for you at all or are you looking?

Hey, we still got any grade one winners here?

Well, it does. Dampen it.

I mean, let's face it, he was the presumptive 3 year old

champion, likely horse of the year if he were to win or even

if he ran second or something, you know.

So I mean he's a great horse. We wanted to see how he would

run against 4 year olds and other older horses.

And so we deprived of that opportunity.

It always makes it tough. You know, you're so excited to

see how the the Derby winner is going to run against older

horses. So it definitely loses some

luster, but you know, still a loaded field except for contrary

thinking as you mentioned, everybody else in here is a

Grade 1 winner. You know, he's an allowance

winner. He's the pacesetter in here.

But I mean, you could go a number of different ways in the

classic now with. Sovereignties defection here.

We still have a solid set of three-year olds that are going

to run between journalism. Of course.

Nevada Beach by Aza finally gets that grade one win last out of

the Pennsylvania Derby. Of those three, who do you get

the best shot here? Well, I guess.

I would lean toward by Aza of those.

I think he's might be a little more progressive than

journalism. I think journalism has kind of

been steady as the year's gone on, but he hasn't necessarily

like upped his game. Now obviously a key jockey

change, Jose Ortiz taking the mount in this race.

We'll see if that can result in any improvement for him.

Do you have a strong opinion on that?

I like the idea of at least trying something different

after. This is the classic.

Honestly. I don't.

Think some of the rides on him were very good earlier in the

year, even when he won under Raspoli, so I don't fault them

for making that choice. You, you have to give yourself

what you think is the best chance to win.

So I think I don't fault their decision at all.

Sierra Leone is back. He won this race last year.

Contrary thinking's in here to set a pace.

Frankly, he's already got fierceness to run at right and

fierceness is going to do a lot of work near the front end or on

the front end. Frankly.

Sierra Leone, his chances on Saturday, very good.

Yeah, I mean. He's a horse that has run in

greatest stakes races ever since his maiden win and he's never

been worse than third. Amazing.

You know he fires all the time. He won over this track last

year. He had an extremely hot pace.

The half mile split last year was lower than 45 seconds.

It was like 44 and change. Yep, just furious fractions.

I don't think you'll get that in this particular race, but I

think contrary thinking will probably, you know, push them

along to 46 and change maybe something like that, you know,

but I think that gives Sierra Leone a fighting chance in here,

a strong chance. He's a very good horse.

You know, I think I would pick him second here behind Forever

Young, who I think is an exceptional horse and and is my

selection. Speaking of landing in the.

Trifecta, of course, in the trifecta last year of both the

Breeders Cup Classic and the Kentucky Derby was forever

young. Why do you have him on top?

Well, he's the top. Rated dirt horse in the world

based off his Saudi Cup from earlier in the year.

He ran lights out in there and then they kind of pushed on with

him in the Dubai World Cup. He was a little over the top,

didn't really fire. They freshened him up.

They gave him an easy prep in Japan.

He's coming into this race looking good.

He's looked great out here. And when he fires his best shot,

he's pretty darn good. And now, granted, he was third,

as you mentioned, in this race last year, third in the Kentucky

Derby, got beat 2 noses. You could argue he might have

been best in the Kentucky Derby because Sierra Leone bumped him

repeatedly and he got beat 2 noses.

So, you know, he's a very, very good horse and his trainer has

already won a couple Breeders' Cup races at Delmore, you know,

all right. So I think clearly this horse

has got a lot of things going for him.

I think a point you made. Earlier too, where he tried to

run those two Arabian Peninsula races back-to-back.

He likes to be a little fresher. He's got a little bit of that.

He's not on the same level for sure, but that flight line where

if he's fresh, he's going to run better than if he's trying to,

you know, push those races together.

And I mean he's. Made $15 million.

A good part of that is from the Saudi Cup, which is are $20

million, But this is a very, very good horse.

And last year in the British Cup Classic, he had the rail and

they kind of sent him away from there and I just don't think

everything flowed that way. He also had a longer year

between the Derby and stuff, so I think he's just a little bit

more on tilt this year. There you go, blood horse dot.

Com for all of Byron's thoughts ahead of the classic, make sure

you check that out. Up next, we'll talk Turf Mile

with Sean Collins up next right here on blood horse at the

Breeders Cup. Right back with Sean Collins

here, Blood horse at the Breeders Cup talking mile races

now I'll go to the Turf Mile first here.

Of course, that is race 10 on the card.

And boy, a fun field here really wide open field here.

I haven't gotten to ask you yet. We did talk about the the Turf

Sprint and the Sprint on the dirt earlier in the card in a

previous segment here, Sean. But when you look at turf races

like this, especially when we get to routing, do you tend to

lean toward the EUR here? Yeah, I mean you.

Have to. That's just especially

historically. Yeah, you look at the

historical. Record of them coming over here

into some of these turf routes. I know the Turf Sprint, we

mentioned they don't have the best success, but all these turf

routes they always seem to come with with some really top notch

horses here. Now we saw last year in the

mile, if we have some good American runners, we can hold

our own in this race. You think more than looks and

Johannes who is second right behind no doubt.

And so we did pretty well in this race last year.

Johannes is back. I think he's one of the top

milers in in in the country for sure.

I was great to see him in his last race, bounce back second

start off the layoff. He's going to be tough in here

from the American runners. But yes, it is hard to look past

the Europeans notable speeches. Here, When's the Woodbine Mile,

Historically A terrific predictor of success at the

Breeders Cup. A little different this year at

a race, different this year on the Inner turf rather than on

that wide, sweeping turn. But frankly, we're on a tight

turf course. It might actually work out.

Better do you think it will? I think so, I think.

So too, anytime you get a chance for a horse from Europe to see

replicate those replicate the conditions that we'd have here.

And he was in the mile last year, he was third and in the

mile last year. So he as experience I just the

the move was. Just a little too late.

That's it. Otherwise the horse wins.

I agree exactly. So we know that he.

Can hold his own here at Del Mar.

We know that he likes the track. He can run well here, so we can

expect a good performance from him as well.

I just, I, I'm not for whatever reason, I'm just not super

confident in him. I feel like there could be some

other options, other interesting.

Runners in here as well, coming from overseas.

Any of them caught your eye? Well, the lion in.

Winter, I thought, has looked pretty good.

A couple of mornings I've seen him out here on the track.

He's he's been in the front of Aidan's army, so maybe it's just

because he's the one that I see first.

Sure. And I get to see it for the most

amount of time before the other ones jog by.

That's not a 0, right? Being in the front of that

matter, they usually, yeah, you usually.

See, they're not going to put some slouch up there and so, but

he's he's it's good form out there in Europe.

He's second last time out in the Queen Elizabeth, the second

stakes, third in the pre. I should let you pronounce that

one. There we go.

I'm gonna, I'm like, I'm gonna let you.

No, OK. It's a windmill.

Oh, OK. So he was running in windmills

apparently out there in France, but a grade one at Long.

Shot. That's the only lost by a neck.

And so we've seen before now we've seen before were horses

that, you know, maybe our that second, third and Group One

company over there when they come over here to the US, Yep,

they they can, they can run a lot better over here against our

horses. Now, to be fair, Salon was the

winner of that race. He's in this field as well.

So you need to give him a look as well.

He's looked, he's looked pretty good out there on the race.

Same morning line by the way. Same.

Morning Line, obviously they thought that race similar to how

you think about it is hey, three horses together, that's who

finished and and the thing. That I like maybe more about him

than the Lion in winter is the fact they brought the Lion in

Winter back for another race versus salons been off since

that victory. So he may be coming into this

race a little bit fresher with the Lion in winter, the October

18th date coming in this close. I know horses have done it

before in the Breeders Cup running, running that weekend

and then coming over and being successful here.

But the timing to me when you have to ship all the way over is

is slightly concerning I would say.

But both of them have looked good out here on the racetrack.

I do like a couple of these American runners.

We mentioned Johannes earlier. I think he is a top notch turf

force. I think he can hold his own

against these European horses. But I also am a big fan of

rhetorical as well. I loved his win at Keeneland

last time out. I think this is a horse that has

been so well handled by Will Walden.

We had him on the Blood Horse Monday podcast a few weeks ago,

which means he'll win here. Yeah, but.

But but, but, but he's just, he's handled this horse so well

where he they knew that they had a good one early, but they let

him gradually progress through the ranks.

They kept him in against New York breds, got him, got him the

experience, let him figure out what racing is, Then took the

shot against the grade one horses and it was successful and

he ended up winning pretty impressively there.

I like him. His chances coming back.

I actually just saw Will Walden this morning.

He's feeling really good going into this.

All fantastic. Johannes would be my play of the

Americans in here personally comes out, of course, out of the

City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita where he is undefeated and is

spectacular over that Santa Anita turf course.

Does have two runs here, has never been worse than second.

I find him to be the most interesting of the American

runners. Just a little bit of a home

track advantage. He's already been here before

handled the turns before and man the confidence to start this

horse's campaign this year and the four-star Dave tells me like

trainer Tim Yak team really does think he's got a world class

horse and by the way, I agree with him.

You and I both agree with him. We voted him on top in the

eclipse awards last year. Would not be a starter to see

him win here. It would not be and.

That just, you know, even though I know he didn't run well in the

four-star Dave, but to think about shipping across the

country, they know that they have one of the top tour forces

in the country because we're not going to start him in an

allowance company, you know, grade 3.

We're going for the Grade 1 and yeah, he wasn't ready that day,

but we saw in the City of Hope Mile he was ready when he was

back. Second off the layoff, third off

the layoff. You would expect he's only going

to be better here. Son of.

Nyquist, very few of those Nyquist in here, but hey, real

shots all of the Nyquist babies that will be in here as well.

Let's go to the dirt side of things, the Dirt mile.

What a race this turned. Out we've got a big.

Favorite in Nisos, which is a little surprising where his

morning line landed. Would you have him there a

little bit higher than that? I would have him a.

Little bit higher just because of how good this field is,

because I'm actually talking with Michael McCarthy, who has

touch a destiny in here yesterday and he he himself said

this is probably one of the most talented dirt mile fields that

we've had in a long time. We've had years before where

we've had a superstar in this race.

You think Knicks go, you think life is good.

You think back to golden sense winning two of these things,

like we've had years where we've had the stand out, but it's I

don't think we've had years where we've had this complete

talent in the race. Like, you know, that stand out

was there and against a bunch of horses who maybe were not up to

that level. Niceos could be that stand out

in here, but everybody else in the field has credentials.

Everybody else in the fields are top notch horse.

And so I think top to bottom, this is a pretty, pretty strong

group. Niceos.

I think maybe the 8:00 to 5:00 is a little bit low just for

that reason because of how many good horses are in this field.

But he definitely, I mean, he's been impressive.

This is a horse that's had nothing but hype around him

since he began his career. Unfortunately, we've seen health

issues kind of derail him from really ever getting to see his

best at the top level. Maybe this is the weekend we

finally see Mystic Dan Derby. Winner in here do you like him

here better than in the classic? I absolutely like him here.

Yes. Yeah, I.

You know, it's interesting if it was just if we were looking

purely at the distance, I think I might, I might lean towards

seeing him at the mile and a quarter instead.

However, when you look at the fields, he definitely fits in

this field a lot better. So I'd like to ask you a

question. About him, because many of his

grand achievements have come when he makes his move at the

very top of the stretches, usually at Churchill Downs.

OK. But last time out in the Lucas

Classic, he didn't have the lead until the last 16th, and he had

to move between horses to do it. Showed a new element in his

running style. I was impressed by that.

Ron Francisco Arrieta was aboard then.

He keeps them out here, by the way, Kudos to Kenny.

Yeah, for doing exactly that, because the two of them worked

great together. Last out hate Nazi and Brian

Hernandez. Yes, junior here for sure.

But boy, do you give do you give the Derby winner a chance here?

Because I do, of course, yeah. You know the mile, The mile's a

question. We haven't seen him do it in a

long time, since very early the two turns makes up.

Some of that, I think, yeah. And that's exactly.

The the thing there, I think the two turns really helps him out

here. The fact that this is not a one

turn mile. We know that he, you know, likes

getting kind of that inside trip, being able to save some

ground. I think he's going to be able to

do that here. He's breaking out of the floor.

I think he'll be able, Francisco will be able to work out a trip.

But as you said, we saw a new demand mentioned last time.

We saw him actually be able to put forward a stretch run where

he had to run somebody down, which we hadn't seen before.

We'd always seen him up on the lead in a race like the

Southwest Stakes where he just kind of aired it and went for

it, or a race like the Derby where he where he just held on,

he held on, hold on. And he did.

And so I do like seeing that new dimension going into this race.

Distance concerns me a little bit.

But he has looked as somebody who has watched him a lot over

the last two years at Churchill, at Saratoga.

I think he looks like he's in possibly the best form of his

career right now. To see him in the mornings.

He looks phenomenal. Rona's Racing will send.

Full Serrano, last year's winner out here try the Grade 1

Goodwood probably just a little bit too long last time I loved

his effort in that race so I'm absolutely throwing him in my

tickets here yeah and we. Talked about Straight No Chaser

earlier in the spring. Kind of flying under their game

off again here. Nobody's talking about.

Full Serrano. He's the defending winner of

this race, so you know he's going to be tough.

He's a little bit more respected than Straight No Chaser when it

comes to the morning line. He's 7:00 to 2:00 here in this

spot. Why not do it again?

Same track. He was so impressive here last

year doing that and I agree with you.

I think the good one was just maybe a little bit too long for

him. Nevada Beach is a pretty good

horse. It was still a respectable

effort. I would expect him to run pretty

well here in this spot as well. I also want to give a shout out.

I don't know how he's 20 to one on the morning line, but Tumba

Rumba, I mean, this horse, every single time he goes out there

onto the racetrack, he shows up, he fights, he's got that

fighting spirit inside of him. It looked like he maybe went off

form a little bit toward the end of that 10 race losing streak

that he had. But a lot of those races, he was

second or third beating a small margin.

But then he had a couple of, you know, maybe some races that left

you some concern. His last two races, he's back.

And Brian Lynch, when I talked to him last week, he said

they've seen the fire come back in his eye.

They've seen that he is he's ready to go.

I think he's finally stringing wins together.

I think he could maybe do that again here.

And I like the odds. That's the difference there is.

That the ACAC, not usually a great predictor for A2 turn

mile, Yeah. But frankly, the fact that he's

stringing these together is different than his previous

form. And so I'm with you on that.

And he's been. He's done well.

He was fourth in this race last year.

He's done OK at the two turns before.

I don't think that's going to be a big problem.

Chancellor Mcpatrick's. Off to the breeding shed after

this. Many times, frankly, we see

retirements before a possible exposure.

I think it's really interesting that Chad Brown's going to run

him here. I love the move to Jose Ortiz as

well. Yes, I'm kind of.

For the price, he ended up in this spot instead of the Sprint

because it seemed like they were really pointing for the Sprint.

His race is around 2 turns so far.

I mean, we all remember back Derby, Derby time, we were

concerned about what he was around two turns.

He ended up winning the Kerwin Stakes out out at Saratoga

around two turns. So that makes me feel a little

bit better. But I still don't think I

haven't seen from him as a three-year old, that same kind

of devastating kick that he showed last year as a 2 year

old. I think maybe the champagne, by

the way. Adam Mile, you're right, yes.

And the Hopeful Stakes at 7:00. Prolongs but you know, I just he

hasn't been as electric as I thought he was going to be when

the year started. So I'm hesitant to go with him

here in this spot, but it is nice to see him here and

obviously the fact that they did enter him that shows you some

confidence that they still have in him.

We'll close our race. Previews up next with Frank

Inks, we'll talk Breeders' Cup, Philly and Meriturf, and then

you'll see Sean one more time as we'll wrap up our series of

Blood Horse at the Breeders Cup. Here's Frank to talk Breeders'

Cup, Philly and Meriturf. All right, fight.

The last race on the card on Saturday will be the Breeders

Cup Billy and Mayor Turf running a mile and 3/8 going the three

turns here at Del Mar Frank Angst back with us here from

bloodhorse.com. You'll see his preview up there.

This is, I think probably hearing different opinions.

What are those races people think is the most wide open on

Saturday? I think that's a fair.

Description You have a lot of the, I mean, you have to start

with the European base horses just on their success in this

race. And a lot of those horses look

fairly even, you know, on paper. And then she feels pretty as the

US horse that most assuredly fits in with that bunch.

And then the EP Taylor is the race.

I keep coming back to the she feels pretty wanted edge diamond

rain by head, but they've drawn where she feels pretty is

outside tomorrow. I think she and the the

configuration here, it's going to be a three turn race.

Really not much time for her to get over or they might have to

use her their speed some. I I think this sets up for

Diamond rain who who was right there a good dolphin horse that

that his again, I've said it earlier when we're talking about

the distaff, these these horses that are improving this time of

year always catch my eye and Diamond rain in my opinion is is

moving right on up Diamond reign one of those.

Horses too has experience going left-handed, doing the turns

right and so that's a thing. These three turn races doesn't

always work for a horse coming say out of a straight line race.

Some of those things that we see in England, for example, I think

that kind of experience for her as well.

What do you make of see the fire?

Tough post on the outside. It does have a lot of trees.

Go left-handed. See the fire?

Definitely. Fits and I, you know, when I,

when I'm trying to make a make, make the cut on horses that are

seemingly evenly matched that the post is a big thing for me.

So I, I, I kind of thought Gazora is probably a really good

fit kind of right in the middle of the field.

She's a French classic winner races for Peter Brand, who of

course we're all familiar with over here.

Peter does keep a string of horses in Europe.

He's won the arc over there. So he's had really successful

horses in Europe and and she fits the bill there.

So I can't see her not hitting the board, I'll say that much.

Diamond Rain, I think it's my top pick, but Gazora looks like

she's right there and if she were to win it, I wouldn't be

surprised at all. How about Cinderella?

'S dream in here finished second last year best running over firm

go as well seems to be a good fit for this field yeah I think

this is the. Good Dolphin, Philly and Mayor.

That will probably be bet more than diamond rain and I get it.

She won the Falmouth Stakes Group One over in Europe.

So again, she she fits right there.

And it it really gets to what I was saying is these European

Phillies and mayors in this race really appear to be evenly

matched. Someone's filling out their.

Pick five to close the card. How many are would you including

a ticket? Oh gosh.

Five probably. OK, all right.

A. Bit of a spread race here to

close the card on Breeders' Cup Saturday.

We'll bring Shawn Collins back in and we'll wrap the show next.

All right, thanks to all of the Blood Horse staff for hanging

out with us on this edition. A blood horse at the Breeders

Cup, of course. Head to bloodhorse.com right

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Sean, final thoughts after Friday leading into Saturday.

Which race are you most looking forward to tomorrow?

I'll be very honest, I want to see that turf match up.

I'm so excited to see Minnie Hawk here.

And boy, the old the old globe traveling Rebels romance.

And I'm seriously, seriously fascinated by Ethical Diamond.

So I my weird long shot is in a race where I don't expect him to

necessarily do anything. But goodness, it's the Breeders.

Cup And frankly, if the Philly, you know, the Juvenile Philly

turf was any kind of indication, you never know what could

happen. Yeah, you never know what could

happen. This is what happens when you

bring the best horses from around the world in the one

spot. The horse that's 30 to 1?

Still one of the top horses in the world.

So you never know what you're going to get here.

Obviously, even without sovereignty, looking forward to

the Classic, this is going to be a legendary race even without

him. But on top of that, really

looking forward to that turf Sprint.

I'm really excited to see and especially we saw I mentioned

when we were doing our segment on that, how it seems like it's

going to be a race where it is. Will the speed hold or will the

closers end up coming in? When we saw the juvenile turf

Sprint today, the horse that set second one and the horse that

got left at the gate came flying in for a second.

So it looks like it's going to be wide open as far as how the

turf's playing for whichever of those it's opportunities to

happen. So I'm really looking forward to

it. Was interesting watching.

Today, just in the final thought here, turf seems very fair.

You can come from off, you can be upfront, you can figure it

out. The dirt, you got to be near the

front it feels like. Yeah, it didn't really look.

Like anybody was coming from behind and in either the

juvenile Phillies or the juvenile, it looked like, you

know, Mr. AP was kind of getting there a little bit at the end,

but he wasn't, he wasn't coming from way back.

He was right behind. That's exactly right.

So he's been back. For sure, yeah.

And then obviously the the Philly went wire to wire Super

Careidora. Super Careidora went wire to

wire as well so. The front is interesting if

that's true. It favors A fierceness, a mind

frame. It does horses like that.

Maybe a journalism, if he's able to stay closer even on the

three-year old side of things and a horse like Sierra Leone

might have to get going a little bit quicker this year than he

did last year, but frankly, was able to do that at Del Mar last

year. Yeah, maybe you can repeat that.

And I feel like last year. We were saying the same thing

about how it seemed like it seemed like.

Speed was going. And boom, he was right there as

they came off the turn. It's like, OK, Yep, he he's just

good. So was like, it's a pizza.

Yeah, we're gonna. Go get pizza.

Happy Breeders' Cup, everybody. Happy Breeders' Cup Saturday.

We'll be back on Monday with another rendition of Blood Horse

Monday. We'll hope you'll join us for

that as well. He's Sean.

I'm Louis. Happy Breeders' Cup, The Blood

Horse is dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred

breeding and racing for over 100 years.

Don't forget to like, subscribe and save Blood Horse Monday on

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and insights, visit us at bloodhorse.com.

Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.